


Invasion

by SunKrux



Category: The Lost World (tv series), lost world - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-09-27
Updated: 2002-09-27
Packaged: 2017-10-24 22:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunKrux/pseuds/SunKrux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will Marguerite share  another fear with Roxton?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Invasion

**Author's Note:**

> **Rating:** PG, just to be safe…wouldn't want some 'rent yellin' at me cause their kid said "Bloody" or something like that.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** Here's the deal…I should be working on a different fic but Marguerite Muse decided this one would be way more fun! See, I've had a bit of a problem with certain critters invading my bathroom. Nasty little buggers, spiders…as a result of said invasion…MM's creative mind was sparked and this fic was born.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? I don't have to go," the handsome lord asked.

"I'll be fine, really. It will be nice to have some time to myself", the dark haired woman insisted.

"Marguerite, maybe you should…" Roxton started.

"Roxton, really, go on. I'll be fine," Marguerite said as she handed him his hat and rifle.

"But…."

"But nothing. We are running low on meat. You need to go hunting," she replied while escorting him to the lift.

The rugged hunter entered the lift then turned to look at her. Before he could pull the lever to descend Marguerite gave him a quick kiss and flashed him a smile, then she quickly pulled the lever. _She's up to something, I just know it. Why else would she have done that?_ he thought, smiling as the lift descended.

"Marguerite, what are you up to?" he yelled as the lift stopped. Once out of the elevator, Roxton looked up to notice Marguerite watching him and smiling.

"The sooner you go the sooner you'll be back," she called down.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" he asked.

"Yes and no, John. I just need some time to myself. I haven't had any in a long time," she told him.

The weather had been horrible the past few weeks. Constant rain and wind made it hard for them to do much of anything. A few days ago it finally let up. Veronica, Challenger and Finn had taken the opportunity to go to the Zanga village to do some trading. Roxton sighed. _She's right; we've all been at each other's throats lately._

"I'll be back in time for dinner," he assured her as he made his way to the gate.

Once she was sure he was out of earshot, Marguerite heaved a big sigh of satisfaction. "Finally! Alone," she said as she headed for her room to gather the things she'd need for a long hot bath. Ever since Challenger built the shower, it was quicker to get clean that way, but the fiery woman missed nice, long, hot baths. She intended to take one today. No one was home. She could sing and not have to hear anyone complain. Little did they know she did have a beautiful voice. She just liked making them think otherwise by singing ever so slightly off key. Marguerite smiled as she walked towards her room. As much as she loved her "family" she missed having time to indulge. Once in her room, she laid out her robe and the clothes she would put on after her bath. She looked through the bottles on her dresser. Nothing there appealed to her. Sighing, she decided she should see what shape the bathtub was in, considering it had been moved to a room that was rarely used.

"Too bad I ran out of bubble bath years ago," she mumbled as she started towards the storage room.

When they had stored the bathtub, they had placed a large piece of cloth over it to keep the bugs out. Unfortunately, it didn't work. As Marguerite started to pull the cloth off, she didn't see the few dozen spider webs inside the tub. As soon as the light hit the tub, the spiders were everywhere.

Marguerite let out a small scream, dropped the cloth, and ran out of the room. She headed straight for the lift. In her flight to leave, she caught her right hip on a corner of the table and sent it crashing to the floor.

Absolute silence reigned. No screech of birds, no monkey chatter, no dinosaur roars, no trickle of water, not even the gentlest whisper of wind. The only sound was the muffled crunch of his own footsteps. In the lush, vivid jungle, the quiet was anomalous and sent an eerie chill racing down his spine. A sudden, loud crack - so intense he could feel it in his bones - reverberated across the plateau. He turned, instinctively knowing where the sound had originated. Terror grabbed his stomach as he muttered, "the Treehouse", and took off in a dead run.

Roxton hadn't gotten far from the tree house when he heard noises. As he neared home, he thought it sounded like voices. The closer he got, the clearer the voices, no, the voice became. When he approached the compound, the hunter could see Marguerite pacing around the base of the tree house. He could hear her talking but couldn't make sense of what she was saying.

"What bloody good did that do?" he heard her mumble. She was too preoccupied with the thought of all those spiders in the tree house to notice Lord John Roxton coming. Occasionally the fiery heiress would look up at the tree house and shiver.

The gorgeous huntsman could tell that she was upset, possibly frightened, but didn't know why. Roxton reached out and gently touched Marguerite on the shoulder. She let out a startled shriek and turned quickly, almost knocking the handsome lord down.

"Roxton, don't do that!"

"What? Touch you on the shoulder?" he responded, grinning.

"No, sneak up on me like that. You startled me."

"Startled? My dear Maguerite, if that was startled…"

"Weren't you off hunting or something?" she interrupted.

"I was, but then I heard a rather loud noise from here and decided to…" he started. _Careful old boy, if you tell her you came back to check on her, she might not like it,_ he cautioned himself.

"Decided to what? Check up on me? Honestly Roxton, you think I can't handle being alone?" Marguerite asked him when he paused.

"That's not what I meant. I thought I heard a loud noise and thought a T-Rex might be heading this way."

"Oh." Marguerite fell silent.

"So why are you down here?"

"Um, I came down to get some more firewood," Marguerite quickly answered, heading for the woodpile and hoping that John would buy it. She wasn't about to tell him she was afraid of spiders. When Malone was still around she remembered him mentioning his dislike and slight fear of them. Veronica and Roxton had teased him for a week about it. She couldn't tell him about the time she was eight and some of the older children locked… _NO! Don't think about it,_ the passionate woman thought as she neared the woodpile. Once there, she just stood there.

John could sense that she was remembering something less than pleasant. He walked around the woodpile so he was facing her. Her eyes were closed and she was trying hard to remain calm.

"Marguerite, what is it?" the concerned hunter asked gently taking one of her hands in his.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the man who had captured her heart and soul. _You have to trust him sometime,_ Marguerite thought, noticing the troubled look on his face.

"John, I have something to tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh or tease me _ever_ once I've told you," she sighed.

Roxton looked at the usually secure heiress. _Don't blow this, old boy,_ he thought. She looked so frightened that he might laugh at her. "I promise I won't laugh or tease you," he told her, taking her other hand and holding them in a comforting grip.

"I left the tree house because of spiders."

"Spiders?" Roxton started to smile. He remembered when Malone had mentioned his dislike of spiders. He quickly remembered that he and Veronica had teased Malone mercilessly about it.

"John, you promised! I remember what you and Veronica did when Malone revealed his fear of spiders. I will _not_ go through that," she declared as she pulled her hands free. She walked away.

"Marguerite, I didn't laugh!"

"You started to."

"I'm sorry. I'm guessing you more than dislike spiders. Want to tell me why? I promise no laughing and no teasing," the cautious lord responded, moving towards her. He held both hands out so she could see that he meant it.

Marguerite eyed him as he approached. "If you laugh or tease me I'll _never_ speak to you again," she threatened, as he got closer.

"Got it. Why are you so upset by spiders?"

"They scare me," she quietly told him.

"Why?" he asked, pulling her closer.

Marguerite tried to pull away…but he wouldn't let her. He could see her ever so slightly chewing on the inside of her bottom lip, to keep from speaking.

She didn't really want to tell him. But she knew if she didn't, he'd keep after her until she did. Usually when that happened they wound up arguing and then not speaking for days. Taking a deep breath and letting it slowly out, she decided to forego their usual pattern and spoke. "When I was around eight, some of the older girls locked me in an abandoned shed near the convent. They didn't know at first that it was infested with spiders. When they found out they wouldn't let me out, even after I had told them I had been bitten."

"What happened after that?"

"They left. I could hear them laughing as they walked away. Finally one of the sisters found me. I was sent to the infirmary and got in trouble for leaving the grounds without permission."

"What happened to the girls?"

"Nothing. It was my word against theirs and who would believe an orphan?"

Roxton put his arm around Marguerite's shoulders. "I'm sorry that happened to you. I promise your secret is safe with me," he reassured her, kissing her on the cheek.

"Thank you."

"Where did you see spiders in the Treehouse, Marguerite?"

"The bathtub. The cloth we used to cover it with didn't keep all the bugs out," she told him

"What were you doing when the spiders came out?"

"Pulling the cloth off the tub."

"Why?"

Marguerite looked at Roxton and rolled her eyes. "Because I thought it would be fun to scare myself with dozens of spiders crawling around the tree house while no one was home. Honestly John…I wanted to take a bath," she responded sarcastically

"But the shower is quicker."

"I know that, but every now and then I like to take a nice, long, hot bath to just soak. I miss it," Marguerite said, moving away.

"Well, what are we going to do about our little invasion?"

"We? _We_ aren't doing anything. If you think that I'm setting one foot in that house with all those spiders you are out of your bloody mind."

"Marguerite…"

"I mean it Roxton, I'll sleep outside before I set foot in the house," Marguerite advised him.

"Fine, I'll go take care of the spiders. Really Marguerite, they won't…" he started.

"Roxton, don't," she warned him

The hunter headed to the lift. When he made it to the top, he could see several dozen spiders crawling all over. He grabbed the broom and started clearing them out. It took him the better part of twenty minutes to get them all cleared out. He double-checked the room with the bathtub and noticed the tub needed a good cleaning. He decided he'd surprise Marguerite. He set to work on cleaning it. When he finished, he started a fire and put a rather large pot of water over the fire to heat up.

"Is it safe yet?" Marguerite yelled from the compound below the tree house.

"No. I'll come get you when it is."

"Hurry up."

"Patience, my dear, patience."

"Ha, you know better."

Roxton laughed at Marguerite's final remark. He did know her better, and patience was not her strong suit. He went to Marguerite's room while waiting for the water to heat. He noticed that her robe was lying on the bed…ready for her bath. He knew she was out of bubble bath but wanted to find something she could use. He settled on some flowers he had brought her before the rain started. They were still in remarkably good shape, and he remembered that she liked the way they smelled. He took a handful of the flowers out of the vase on the dresser. Grabbing her robe and a towel, he headed back to the bathtub. Once there he placed the towel and robe on a chair near the tub. He then plucked the petals off the flowers and scattered them in the empty tub, hoping that when he added the hot water it would produce the desired effect.

After surveying his work, he realized something was missing. _Candles_ , he thought. He went in search of a few. He came back, set them around the room, and then lit them. With the shades up it ruined the effect he was going for. Roxton pulled down all the shades. _That's better_ , he reflected as he went to the fire to get the pot of hot water. Whistling tunelessly to himself as he gingerly carried the large pot of very hot water, he carefully poured it into the tub

"Roxton?" the fiery heiress called. She was getting more impatient by the minute. "Is it safe yet?" No answer, but she heard the lift and walked closer to it. "Finally, I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me," she scolded when it stopped.

"Never, Marguerite. I could _never_ forget you," Roxton replied, smiling. He offered her his hand; she took it and entered the lift.

"What are you up to?" Marguerite asked wearily. The dark haired woman wasn't sure she liked the look on the rugged lord's face. "John?" she questioned as the lift finally reached the top level of the tree house.

"You'll see. Well actually you won't, yet. Close your eyes," he coaxed; leading her out of the lift as she hesitantly closed her eyes.

"Roxton, you know I'm not fond of surprises," she protested.

"I'm positive you will like this one. Come on, they are all gone. Trust me," he said, gently guiding her through the common area and to the bathroom. He maneuvered behind her and gently pushed her through the doorway.

"Open your eyes," he whispered into her ear.

Marguerite slowly opened her eyes. "John?" she asked turning to face him.

"You don't like it?" he wondered unable to read her expression.

"It's not that but…" she started.

"But what? You said you wanted to take a nice, long, hot bath today, right?"

Marguerite smiled as she turned back around to take in what he had done for her. The candlelight danced around the walls of the darkened room.

"You didn't have to do this," she smiled, grateful that he had.

"I know. I wanted to. We can't have those nasty spiders ruin your plans, now can we?" he gently teased.

Marguerite moved closer to him, putting her hand on the back of his neck and gently pulling his head closer to hers. She tenderly kissed him to illustrate her gratitude for what he had done. Soon the kiss became more passionate than either of them had expected. Roxton knew if he didn't put a stop to it, things would get well out of hand. He was loath to end it though. It had been a long time since she had kissed him like this. Groaning, he pulled away at last. Marguerite looked as unpleased as he did, but also realized where kissing like that would lead them.

"I'll go get some more hot water, just in case," he said, backing out of the room. He almost walked into the doorjamb, but Marguerite gently pushed him away from it.

"Thank you," she said, still a bit breathless from the kiss. She sat down on the chair with the robe before her legs gave way. She took off her boots, quickly undressed, and then stepped into the tub. She smiled when she noticed flower petals floating in the water. The hot water had caused them to give off a slight scent.

"It's not bubble bath, but it will do," she said, picking one up and holding it to her nose. While she inhaled its scent she slid further into the water, smiling.

Roxton had returned when he heard her talking, wanting to make sure she was at least in the tub. He watched her as she slid further into the water, smiling. He loved watching her smile. _Your smile could melt a polar ice cap,_ he remembered telling her when the comet-people had invaded the plateau. He cleared his throat. "May I come in? I come bearing more hot water."

"Yes you may."

When Roxton entered the room, he noticed Marguerite smiling he couldn't take his eyes off her face as he stood at the end of the tub and started to pour the water in, careful to not pour it directly on her. When the pot was empty he set it down. He moved her robe and towel to a shelf on the wall and pulled the chair closer.

"What are you doing?" she asked him when he placed the chair closer to the bathtub.

"I thought I'd keep you company," he smiled.

"What makes you think I want company?" she teased him.

"Just took a shot. I can leave if you like," he retorted.

"You don't need to. But this bath is missing something," she said, looking up at him. She put a damp hand on his knee. Mischief was in her eyes.

"Oh really? What is it missing?" he asked, leaning closer. When he did, she grasped an arm and pulled him in the tub with her, causing some of the water to splash over the sides.

"You." she laughed.

The End 


End file.
